As usual DAP Supremo and defacto Opposition Leader just couldn't resist making a huge mountain of a small hill with his usual trade mark of politicizing whatever issues that can be politicized to score political points. Never mind that it will deepen the rift between races in this blessed multiracial country.

I am not condoning what Cikgu Siti allegedly said as I am not privy to what was actually spoken, her speech may have been taken out of context, you know lah some people can't speak Bahasa Melayu well enough to understand its nuances. As a senior Cikgu I am sure she is well aware of what she said and if that is what she actually said than she has to express regret for her action.

The Malays are labelled more derogatory words by other irresponsible Malaysians before, tak ada pula mereka melatah macam orang gila meroyan. Tak kan sebab a momentary lapse in judgement Lim Kit Siang nak belasah Cikgu Siti Inshah begitu teruk, Uncle Lim nak jadi champion orang Cina dan India kah. Enough is enoughlah Uncle Lim, MP YB Tony Pua said some irresponsible things hurting the sensitivities of the Malays, we did not ask him to be removed from the DAP, did we, and Gobind Singh Deo even called PM Najib a murderer in Parliament, did Najib asked for Gobind to be removed from the DAP? No they didn't, though Tony did receive an anonymous bullet which might have come from just about anybody in Malaysia, you have instinctly put a racial slant to the unfortunate event which the much misunderstood KJ wrote eloquently about:

AUG 13 — There are statesmen and there are opportunists. We learnt yesterday the shocking news that Petaling Jaya Utara MP YB Tony Pua received a bullet threat in the post. Immediately a chorus of condemnation ensued, and rightly so. At some point the politics and politicking need to take a backseat in favour of humanity and caring for each other's fundamental right to physical safety. It was in such spirit that I, as Leader of Umno Youth, expressed outrage against the threat to YB Tony and his family, as well as urged the police to ensure their safety. It matters not that YB Tony is a DAP leader, or that we have our numerous disagreements politically, and it certainly does not matter that he is an ethnic Chinese. All that should count is that he is a Malaysian citizen who was threatened by an individual or individuals and that no justification exists for such a threat.

But as is often the case here, in times of shock or crisis, some politicians find ways to exploit sentiments and score political points against an opposing political party.A matter, to which sensible Malaysians can gravitate, suddenly becomes all about how Umno or Barisan Nasional is at fault. In the minds of such politicians, the politics never stops; in their actions and statements they insist our entire social lives be governed by narrow, belligerent partisan logic, 24/7.

One such politician who tends to do this is YB Lim Kit Siang. We shan't go through history here to see how often he has exploited tensions, conflicts and unease for partisan gains. His recent blog post suffices.

In it, YB Lim Kit Siang implies that the threat was a result of "communal hatred against YB Tony". He precedes this insinuation by stating the police reports and warnings made against YB Tony made by Umno Youth Selangor and the Umno Information Chief. He is careful to avoid blaming Umno outright on his blog, but we all know what he's trying to say.

Was the bullet threat motivated by discontent in parts of the Malay community about YB Tony's position on the Bumiputera housing discount? Likely, though we cannot rule out any possibility until the police conclude their investigations, hence the call I made earlier for speculations to be kept at bay. For the sake of argument, was Umno at the forefront of this Malay discontent? Sure. But instead of trying to empathise with such disgruntlement, YB Lim Kit Siang dismisses it with adjectives like 'irresponsible', 'ugly' and 'vicious' - because he'd like very much for people to believe that Umno manufactured the discontent, and that in doing so Umno similarly created a "communal hatred" against an individual resulting in a bullet threat. Talk about generalising and piling one assumption over another.

Nevermind that many Malays who have nothing to do with Umno feel strongly about the issue of Bumiputera housing discounts, it is what YB Lim Kit Siang omits from his statement that interests me most. If he is going to assume that the threat was racially motivated, then I say bravo, Captain Obvious. But especially so being a veteran politician, YB Lim Kit Siang should follow that up with calls for calm, join Umno Youth and others in rallying all Malaysians of all races to stand in solidarity against extremism. He could have stated that even if the threat was racially motivated, it was not representative of any community. These are exactly the things YB Lim Kit Siang should say if he has the country's interests at heart. But true to form, instead of defusing the situation, YB Lim Kit Siang sought to worsen it by fanning the very "communal hatred" he is convinced exists — provoke Umno, ridicule the aforementioned discontent and hope people see it through his partisan eyes.

But I have more faith in Malaysians than YB Lim Kit Siang does. Just as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans and all the various ethnicities in this great country rose up against the arson attacks early this year, I believe we will do the same whenever anyone receives death threats for stating their views, even if there are racial or religious dimensions involved. We are a resilient lot; push comes to shove, we know to put our differences aside and stand together. Well, most of us, anyway. There are statesmen and there are opportunists. — www.rembau.net.my

Agreed, Lim Kit Siang is good at fanning "communal hatred" that is probably the only thing he is good at, how PAS, Parti Islam SeMalaysia could find it in them to work with Lim's DAP is truly one of the mysteries of the 21st century.

39 comments:

Aah, that's the problem anon 8:29am, even TheStar reported the Cikgu as mentioning "penumpang" only but never any reference to an animal, that is what Kit Siang was reported to have said in the MI based on hearsay without back up. Don't get me wrong I am not condoning whatever the Cikgu said please read my post further. TQ.

Anon 8:29am, regret I can't publish your comment, name callings and/or diatribes are not welcome in my blog. suffice to say that Uncle Lim has succeeded in fanning racial hatred in you. Good Luck to you if you want to call yourself whatever you want to call yourself. Tq.

Siti Inshah Mansor is a example of racism which runs deep. Politics aside, read one of the many numerous police reports - http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs273.snc4/40005_420654408045_215868293045_4539320_4679979_n.jpg

I understand you want to comment on politics itself. But do read up on facts. Mountain out of a molehill? Not if you think of the repercussions of her statement.

Dear klubkidd, I think we have to recognise that ours is a multiracial and some say multiracist country we just have to learn to deal with the situation. One thing we should do is to quickly diffuse a incident which could cause racial tension instead of fanning the flame of racial hatred.

I understand 17 police reports have been made BUT police reports are just mere allegations that need to be investigated by the police to determine its truthfulness.

My post is a call for calm, because a a holier than thou knee jerk reaction will only cause other knee jerk reactions, this will never end and could turn ugly. Lets leave it up to the police and cabinet to handle and not pressure them like what Kit Siang and the like is doing now.

I think we should pull back our lenses on the principle and look at what her actions are capable of implicating. She.Is.A.Teacher. She educates the young, impressionable minds that are quick to absord such matter and develop thier opinion and identity through it.I understand your post is about staying calm, and quickly defusing the situation. But what you fail to realize is by quickly defusing the situation, the roots of the problem still exist. Like weeds, unless you uproot the plant the roots will remain and keep regrowing, multiplying.She is an educator, she has taken an oath to protect and cultivate the minds of children. Not poison it with racist remarks that further deepen the divide within Malaysia. I am a teacher, and teachers like her offend me greatly because she has broken the code of ethic and conduct.

I understand the MOE has set up a committee to investigate this incident and probably another one similar brewing up in Kedah. I agree with the Minister when he said "Up to now, the reactions may have been too emotional, but any follow-up action by the ministry(MOE) must be fair."

I agree with you that the root cause of this problem must be found and dissected to be studied.

However, I think Punishment and prosecution alone is not the final solution, as it will lead to more Sitis, Ismails and Nasirs coming out of the closet, we must find out the circumstances and why the comments were made to really get a holistic solution.

teachers are suppose to be role models and educators of our children, future leaders of our country, and this includes every single child in this country, there can be no preference or inequality of any kind. By giving such an open speech in an assembly, she has seriously crossed her boundary.As eddy said, punishment and prosecution alone is not the final solution, still it is important to be imparted here, as a guide and example. the principal is at fault, but come to think back, why is she behaving in such a way? All of us Malaysians should really be a good role model to our future generations. Who wouldn't want equality, peace and harmony?

Plus, i think most of us get confused between a party and a race, criticizing the faults of a party does not equal to condemning a race, and you cant judge a race based on one or few faulty persons, i believed that there are good, harmony people within our country, regardless of race and religions, that is what made us unique, don't ever forget that, and lastly, whoever you are, stay humble, and respect others as how you would want others to respect you. have a nice day :)

I understand the thought of Eddy which punishment could not bring this case into a better ending, yet i believe this case is an ignition where people can voice their voice of racism freely, i doubt. Hence, the punishment is merely a tool to prevent other similar arising cases, which may lead to incident of 13May. But, since an educated person that tagged by the society could voice out such a comment in a multiracial environment, we could imagine how many other people has similar or thoughts which are more lethal to national integration, and we could imagine how many of the next generation are being educated in such a way to implant the seed to explode in racist topic. 1Malaysia is a sacarstic goal by the politicians, and i could even say it is only to build harmony by appearance.

Thanks for your comment Sdr non racist. In matters of racial sensitivities, punishment if meted out must be without fear or favor and be applied to all.

Remember the Namewee guy who posted a ghastly video in You Tube, he was not punished, in fact the many people who defended Namewee are the first people to condemn Cikgu Siti, that to me is hypocritical behaviour. That is what makes racial tension temperature rises.

Cikgu Siti's case is being investigated by the Police and subject to a internal probe by the MOE. I hope the result of the investigation is transparent and announced to the public so that we will know the truth nothing but the truth.

By the way I agree with your 1Malaysia one liner its just appearance, I think the 1Malaysia slogan is not thought deep enough before it was announced, a slogan should mean one thing for everybody but it seems 1Malaysia means different things to everybody. Patut dilengkapkan, maybe 1Malaysia menuju Visi 2020 or something..then we have a mission to go to as one Malaysia.

It is very sad that a principal of a national school can say such words, however the situation that led her to say those words, it can never be justified. She must receive the consequences for her actions.

I am not malay and I support 1 school system in Malaysia, like I see you do. But with principals like this, they are making non-malay children unwelcomed in national schools. As it is, parents are worried about the quality of education, now with racial discrimination, parents like me are at a lost. Will my child have a good education in national school? No child should be made to feel inferior to others, in fact, educators should make each child realise his full potential, not hamper him. The principal in question has failed terribly.

I am sad to read your post. You can please place yourself in the shoes of Chinese or Indians? Being namecalled since young is not fun. What can we do? We just gulped in the words and pretend nothing had happened. What if the headmistress happens to be a Chinese or Indian? He/She ends up insulting your race. It's not fun right?

I can bet my last dollar the investigation will NEVER be transparent. The whole matter will just die off quietly. If Siti Inshah is not racial, she should apologize to the students and the public. So far, I have not seen that.

Sounds like its a small hill to you ya ? You'll never feel it as you're not part of the racism.... I meant she's a goverment servant,she shopuld know what she should do and say and what she shouldn't do and say

white, namewee or Wee Meng Cheng is here in Malaysia dude, he came back in 2008 from Taiwan where he studied. I think he is still here and producing Videos some he down loaded in You Tube, the later ones are titled "Fuck TNB Malaysia (with english subtitle)" etc.

Namewee is still free as a bird in Malaysia. Like I said the first people to be apologists for namewee are also one of the first to condemn Cikgu Siti.

namewee is someone who dares or cares to voice out his thoughts...if u r a bit more observant,which u r not very,most of his songs r made in response of some incident that took place...i believe that he was merely telling the public how he felt...he didn't tell other races to go back to their root country because he doesn't like them...

suppose we turn this situation around. suppose a Chinese headmistress from a Chinese school uttered racist rants about Malays, what would you have done? will you appeal for calm in that situation too if certain malay political leaders stepped up and demanded for her blood?

sometimes, the difference in the way how you guys act when the situation is against your favor sickens me

Dude, your post subject states that you are not defending Cikgu Siti Inshah. In a way you sound true, in another point of view you are totally out of topic. Maybe you should change the post subject entirely, maybe to your thoughts on Lim Kit Siang instead mainly because you have Lim Kit Siang mentioned more than Siti Inshah. But I must admit, Siti Inshah is a victim of politics. But given what she has said, she is bound to get into trouble in various ways more than one.

If you feel that what Siti said was just a temporary lapse in judgment, then she must have had so many temporary lapse of judgments that it may not seem so temporary anymore. I don't mind her rant at all, as we would just consider her having a mindset of a 3rd world citizen anyway, but hey, aren't we Malaysians trying to brush that sad status off our bloated heads? lol

Oh Siti Inshah is the school principal and for what she has said, no matter how one tries to salvage what remains of her now; she is wrong. She must have had too many bad clashes with Chinese and Indians plus bad social skills, as it's not the first time she's been mouthing out crap. She's been reported before but her latest foolishness took its toll when an opportunistic politician you mentioned as Lim Kit Siang (all politicians are opportunistic anyways) turned her into a clown. And I pity her.

One thing I do believe though (I could be wrong but who cares?), based on this post of yours, you seem to be in the defense of UMNO/BN, which once again pointed out to the unsuitable topic you have used. One last thing, it saddens me to say this but I think we have numerous statesmen by name only but none by heart or virtue. None.

What follows are some of the juicy comments that I received, much of it are a bit on the emotional side based on hearsay(police report are not evidence until investigated by the police), so unless the real report of what transpired is out on the Cikgu Siti controversy, the situation remains as it is... we agree to disagree lah in a civil manner.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=14535658&id=795685248&fbid=10150273996550249well, this is what i found out on facebook, as a side-effect of the principal's word. Is this a good thing that the truth is revealed which there are still many other people who think that Malaysia is only for Malay, or we should pretend there is nothing?

Dear Kayu guru, do not be such a pessimist, Malaysia is a great country with great people. The country is just 53 years old and is adjusting to growing pains experienced by many other independent nation.

Eddy, it's never been a small hill, this scar is already carved in every races heart except Malay. Chinese, Indian is the outsider, but think back, the origin of this land is the Orang asli that we have almost forgotten. This conflict have lived among us for all these years. So.. don't call it a small hill, it's a issue that the politician and others tried to ignore but deep in the people heart, there is true.Next time, don't post your comment out if you not really aware of the truth.

Dear Eddy, agree with you all the way..just want to add somethin'...when we say one malaysia...we need to be one..and not two or three or four...right? Then there must be one school....one bahasa...Why must there still be SRJK (C), SRJK (T)....why not abolish them and just go to SK...you need to fluent in your national language to be a citizin in the US...but here in Malaysia...you need not to do that...as long as your father and mother is a citizen...you are alright...Hey...look at Indonesia..they are one Indonesia..the Chinese, the Indian though not many have to use Bahasa Indonesia...have to use Indonesian names... we have been more than tolerate here...

In one way I am not surprised that this incident happen. Why? Because it goes to show how bad and downgraded have our education becomes. We don't have any more teachers of caliber, most of them are just makan gaji and passing time only, before heading off to teach in their tuition class. I am not a teacher, but my parents are and it is in their opinion that this woman is a utter disgrace to the teaching profession. A headmistress is supposed to be the leader in the school. If the leader display such blatant display of racist, what to you expect the rest of the teachers and students to behave then? Don't even bother to transfer her away. FIRING her is the only option. One bad apple spoil the barrel. She doesn't deserve the title "Guru". A BIG DISGRACE!

All teachers are to be models of good. But Siti is not. And so are a number of cikgu's whom I came across who have been racists and also rude and crude. But thank God they are far in between and there are good teachers who deserved praise. But Siti Inshah is not one of them.